Saturday, August 26, 2006

Hi viewers,
It’s really grateful to report how I spent my holidays to all of you guys, because you can’t imagine how I felt good and comfortable during this period of times when I had had such great experience which I never know.
In a nutshell, my old school, namely Waseda-jitsugyo won the championship at the high school baseball tournament in Koshien-Stadium the other day which is familiar with the enthusiasts throughout a country.
Not only us graduates but also other baseball fans all around the country kicked up their heels during the games of course, since 2 games were so excited, and I believe they must have gone down in history.

As soon as Waseda-jitsugyo made it to the final when Saito pitched shutout the opposing team, kagoshima-kogyo, by 5-0, I left home and headed out for Osaka as to root for my old school.
When I got to Osaka, I was looking for some business hotel to make a reservation for staying, however almost all the hotels were fully booked due to the final baseball tournament. So I ended up with wondering around from place to place for about 2 hours, finally I was able to check in the sauna, where bedrooms were available at the place.

Next day, I got up before 5, and was heading the Koshien-Stadium to purchase a ticket.
As you know, you’ve got to line up for several hours whenever you watch the final game since it gets so crowded, and of course, I’ve got to wait for 3 hours before the tickets were sold.
Then I entered in and got a seat successfully, but it was still 4 hours left before the game.
My skin got sunburned, even worse, my face looked so ugly… you know, ‘Cause I didn’t protect anything at all for my skin, whereas the temps showed around mid 90s in Fahrenheit which is equivalent to 35 degrees in Centigrade with the high humidity.
I’ve got to keep hydrated all the way until the game is all over.

As for the game, it was far beyond my expectation, because both teams, namely Sojitsu and komadai-Tomakomai played excellent games.
Moreover, it was breathtaking when both pitchers allowed base loaded in the same 11 innings, respectively.

Still, both Saito and Tanaka showed excellent performances and didn’t allow the additional scores, whereas it was not very surprising that both teams could possibly get a chance to win at any time when the situation looked so oppressive.
Neither Saito nor Tanaka gave up until the last minute. After all, the first game ended in a draw, and both teams were forced to play another game the very next day.

The second game which was the very last seemed rather predominant to Waseda-jitsugyo, because our players did quite an excellent job in the early innings.
Besides Saito showed a great performance in his pitch and made a lot of strike-out as well.
Furthermore, each fielder, especially the shortstop, Goto, and the left fielder, Funabashi did a great fielding all the way, so the opposing team had to struggle, whereas they had made some single hits from time to time.
At the very last inning, Saito allowed the second homeruns from Nakazawa, the third batter, everybody went black, even felt a sort of anxiety that our team might be captured. All of us had to rely on Saito’s great pitch of course, and he met our expectation fully.
Saito himself seemed rather self-possessed no matter how he had spent hard times with the series of ordeal, bounced back in no time, finally made a very last strike out from Tanaka, the pitcher, and we’ve got it made!
Sojitsu won the championship for the first time in the summer’s game ever since the baseball team had been established in the early Taisho-era.
The last game made my day to a full extent, and I can’t forget this feeling, even though the times go by.